Advantages

Disadvantages

good product if you should need them

pelican healthcare was formed in 1994 and provide products for stomas and feminine healthcare in 1995 the company aquired nightingale limited which has since become pelican home delivery service which serves all parts of the UK.In 2007 the Company was bought by TG Eakin Limited, a world renowned producer of specialist medical adhesives and wound care products, and is now part of the Eakin Group of companies. Our stoma care products are now available under the Eakin brand in an increasing number of international locations.

Pelican are very efficent and when we need supplies for our son we can get a prescription from the doctor and we then send this to pelican who will dispatch the goods to our home.

Our son has a condition called hirschprungs disease which therefore ended up with him having a stoma (illostomy) this is part of his bowel that is pulled through his stomach and he then uses the illostomy bags to poo into. We use the bags above for him and you can get them in different sizes also to suit either the age of a baby, child, or adult.

There are all kinds of reasons as to why people may need a stoma all normally because of an obstruction in the bowel of some sort.

So first of all we have to cut the hole in the bag so that it will snugly fit over jacks stoma but not to close overwise we find it digs into the stoma and thefore can cause irratation around the skin.when we have the right size we need to make sure the area around his stoma is cleaned and then we apply a skin protector wipe and then dry the skin otherwise these bags will not stick to the skin.We peel off the protective film and then we place the bag over the stoma, this part is sticky so that it can stick to the skin.We then have to roll up the end and secure it so the poo doesnt leak out the bag, this does have a sticky velcro which helps it stay in place.

We only replace the bag if it splits or if he is going to have a bath (so generally every other day)generally these bags do the job they are ment to do which is collect the poo from the stoma so it doesnt spill out everywhere, some people have a stoma thats quite low on their stomach so can just place a nappy over it but jacks stoma is situated just above his belly buttom so we have no option but to use these bags.

They do stick quite well but the problems we are now getting is that every morning the bag is split and....yes you guessed it we have a poo explosion everywhere! and i mean everywhere so we take the bag off and clean jack up and start all over again.this is mostly because now jack is nearly 9 months old he spends alot of time on his belly therefore bursting the bag, when he was a baby however these bags worked a treat and we could therefore leave it on for about 3 days or so and just empty the contents at each nappy change.When we just need to empty the poo out the bag the drainable bit at the bottom with the velcro is what we use and we just unwind the bag and take off the velcro and we either use a syring to get the poo out into a fragranced bag or if the poo is to thich we literally have to put a bag under the drainable bit and sueeze on the outside of the bag to get all the poo out.

These do also cause quite a bit of skin irrataton around the area and can sometimes cut into the stoma (luckily the stoma has no feeling in it otherwise I would think this would be quite painfull)

The skin can get broken and really red and sometimes bleed which obviously with something constantly being stuck to your skin everyday I suppose this is just likely to happen, we do have protective wipes to help ease this but of course they only take away a certain amount of soreness.

you can get all different kinds of bags to suit the individual need this is the information for the one we use :

Select Afresh has a unique comfortable and secure skin protector.

Select Afresh has an improved filter system with controlled flow for greater comfort and confidence. Shape Select Afresh has comfortable pouch shapes designed to suit your body form.

Apertures To keep your skin healthy Select Afresh has the widest available range of pre-cut skin protectors ensuring a snug fit. An accurate fit is also essential when cutting the skin protector. The Select Afresh skin protector has a unique surface film that is easy to mark with your cutting line.

Fabric Select Afresh has silky soft fabric for comfort and discretion. Select Afresh has split fabric backing:- In the clear version this allows you or your nurse to see your stoma through the clear medical film making accurate positioning much easier. At other times the fabric discreetly hides the stoma. In the clear and opaque version the split backing allows easy positioning of filter covers.

Sizes Select Afresh is available in Maxi, Standard and Mini sizes.

Film Select Afresh is available in both clear and opaque.

Clipless System The Select Afresh Clipless System provides maximum security and confidence. With its unique features it leads the way in comfort and ease of use.

Clipless System with Enhanced Opening Features The Select Afresh Clipless System is extremely quick to empty and clean. After unfolding, simply flex the bottom of the outlet and pull the opening tab . This guarantees a large opening firstly for emptying and secondly for wiping clean. After emptying just refold and fasten.

These are generally an essential to us as we use them as often as we do nappies but they are good for the job they need to do.